Roon usb issue when using both ports

My Roon Nuc has the latest 1.7 build. My storage device is an external Seagate 4 terabyte drive. My music device is aesthetix Romulus. When I plug the external HD device into the Nuc it reads the memory and storage is available. Next I plug the aesthetix Romulus into the other USB port the memory storage device is lost. Please help.

Hi @Steve_Cooke1,

Does this happen every time both USB ports are used? If you were to connect a second USB drive as a test, does the same behavior occur?

Does the audio device work properly when it is the only device connected?

Hey Dylan.
It only occurs when both USB ports are occupied. I tried connecting the ext HD storage in either port and then the other with several different cables and got the same result. Interestingly, tried with the cable connected to the audio device and not connected to the audio device and got the same result. As soon as both ports are occupied by a connected or disconnected cable of any sort the storage device is lost. I tried with two storage devices and no audio device and everything is fine.

The audio device works with my laptop.

Hi @Steve_Cooke1,

Interesting, so even with just a USB cable attached to nothing being connected the drive is lost?

Can you confirm the exact model of this drive?

If you remove this drive from the equation and have the audio device and something else (a thumb drive, for example) — Does that work?

1 Like

Seagate portable Drive SRD0NF1. Formatted Microsoft NTFS.

It is probably also important to note that this set up worked months ago when I had time to listen.

Thanks for the update, @Steve_Cooke1!

Were you by chance able to confirm the following?

No. Nucleus doesn’t see audio device at all.

Thanks, @Steve_Cooke1.

Moving forward, here’s what I’d like to try:

  1. Disconnect all USB devices and reboot the Nucleus
  2. Launch Roon and connect one device. Make a note of the time in your local timezone that the device appears
  3. Connect a second device to the Nucleus — Make a note this time of when the device disappears
  4. Respond here with the two timestamps noted above and we will enable diagnostics on your account

Thanks!

First device seagate ext HD storage connected 3:45 PST
Second device Aesthetix Romulus connected, first device disappears 346 PST

Thanks, @Steve_Cooke1.

Now that I have the timestamps, diagnostics have been enabled on your account. The next time your Core is active a diagnostics report will automatically be generated and uploaded directly to our servers

Once that’s been received, I’ll be sure to pass it along to the team to investigate.

Hi @Steve_Cooke1,

I received some feedback from the team and we are hoping to learn a little more about what is occurring here. Would you kindly please verify the following:

  • Are you using the PSU that came with the Nucleus? If not, what kind of PSU are you using?
  • We’ve seen some reports that this Aesthetix device has some issues with Linux. Just to verify, the same issue occurs if you connect the thumb drive and the USB drive, correct?
  • Is the audio device powered via USB or externally powered? What about the USB drive?
  • If you connect a USB cable (with nothing attached) and just the DAC does the DAC work?

Thanks!

  1. Whats a PSU? Power supply unit? if yes, then I am using what came with the original box.
  2. Not sure I understand this question. But, everything I am using worked once and smoothly. heres what I see when I plug either 1) the thumb drive or the ext HD into the NUC and 2) the cable from the audio device. As soon as the audio device cable is seated the power light on either the thumb drive or the ext HD goes out.
  3. Audio device is powered from an outlet. USB storage device is powered by usb.
  4. The DAC (Aesthetix Romulus is a multi-input digital unit with a transport) works with USB cable plugged in and unattached. (However, there is an input selector and by choosing any other input the unit by passes the USB). I cant tell if the DAC works with the cable attached by leaving the input selector on USB. Dont even know how to address this question if I leave the input selector on USB with nothing attached to the cable.

Thanks, @Steve_Cooke1!

I’ve updated your ticket to include this information and have passed it back to the technical team for further feedback. I’ll be sure to follow up ASAP once I have their feedback.

Hi @Steve_Cooke1,

I discussed this a bit more with the team and have some next steps. The team did some further research and investigating and we have some idea of what’s occurring, but the exact cause is not something that we can say for sure just yet.

First, can you take pictures of both of the USB ports and share them here? We are looking to see if there are any blockages or other issues with the ports that might be the reason for this issue.

Can you confirm if this device has always had this issue from the beginning, or at one point were you able to use both USB ports without issue?

Picture of ports attached.

I have not always had this issue.

None the the gear I am using now is different from anytime the past. Previously I had no issues.

The only thing different is that the system went unused for about six months and I performed the updates

.

Thanks for confirming that things worked previously, @Steve_Cooke1!

Since that is the case, I’m hoping to focus in on what changed.

Were these same devices used in the past when you were using the Nucleus or were they different devices?

Are the USB cables just standard cables, or are they special audiophile cables or anything like that?

Do you have any audio devices that are USB powered?

Were these same devices used in the past when you were using the Nucleus or were they different devices?
I have already told you - None the the gear I am using now is different from anytime the past including the cabling.
The only thing different is that the system went unused for about six months and I performed the updates.

Are the USB cables just standard cables, or are they special audiophile cables or anything like that?
The USB cable is a Cardas Clear High Speed Serial Buss.

Do you have any audio devices that are USB powered?
no.

We have been trading emails for over a month now. I am frustrated at the inefficiency of this method. Would you call me so we can discuss this like humans and get to the root cause and a solution. I appreciate your help but the method is ridiculous. [Personal contact information removed by support]

Hi @Steve_Cooke1,

I apologize for the difficulties you are having here, and I appreciate your feedback about our support process.

We sometimes hear from people wondering about phone support, email support, or other more traditional methods, and we almost always win them over by resolving problems here every day. I can tell you that we stand behind our products and our support 100%.

Every support thread on this site is tracked by someone on our staff, and they frequently loop in senior staff or developers for feedback. Nearly everyone in our company spends time on this site, and multiple members of our team, including our senior QA and development team have reviewed this thread and provided feedback.

I just spoke with the team about this, and they’ve prepared some additional diagnostics tools that should, along with the information you’ve provided above, give us greater insight into this so we can determine the exact next step for getting this issue resolved for you.

With that in mind, I’m hoping you can do the following for the senior QA team:

  • Reboot the Nucleus
  • Connect the USB drive via a standard USB cable and verify that it works
  • Connect the thumb drive to the Nucleus
  • Make a note of the time that the devices become unavailable so we can review the new diagnostics during this time

After this we should have the data that the hardware team needs to determine our next steps for resolving the issue.

Thanks!

rebooted.
standard USB used.
thumb drive connected.
2:35 pm Jan 14

Thanks, @Steve_Cooke1 — We’ve run diagnostics on this and the team is working to analyze them currently. Just to confirm, as soon as the thumb drive connected, the standard USB device lost power and became unavailable, correct?